Irises
by apandamonium
Summary: She's basically a sub-species of vampire, and he's her adoptive father who loves her dearly. The issue is that she knows exactly what he did, yet still loves him. Now she wants revenge and vengeance, but that may cost the the very existence of vampires.
1. Prologue

Prologue

"Must you really go?"

A man frowns.

A young teenager of about sixteen or seventeen years with carbon black hair wore a grim smile upon her impossibly natural shade of bright, vivid, shocking, rich red lips. Her skin was frighteningly pale, yet mesmerizing to gaze at. She had spring green irises with a thin and peculiar, azure blue ring encasing it. Deep, dark, purple-colored pupils - almost mistakenly black, along with her irises, helped to dominate her beautiful face, contrasting gorgeously with the green and blue.

"Father," she replied in a singing mezzo-soprano, alto voice, "there is no one else."

"I am sure that anyone else would handle the job well," the man all but pleaded.

"Neither man nor woman of our large family is incompetent, father," the girl began," but you know as well as anyone of us that _my_ abilities are far beyond efficient."

"You realize that we won't see each other for years to come?" he demanded.

"During which time I will deeply miss you, but bask in pride that I am serving my father, whom is dear to my soul and close to my non-beating heart," she replied smoothly.

"You really will help me destroy the threat upon our family," he said; a statement, not a question.

She nodded.

"The threat of the true wolves, as well as the misguided ones.."

He nodded.

"I will find someone worthy enough to watch over you in the shadows. You shall never see that person, he will simply find you several times a decade and watch you for two months. Then he will report back to me.

"For now, be safe my daughter, Eldunari."

Clad in long, black, silk robes, Eldunari walked out of the throne room of her family's majestic abode.

The beautifully made doors slammed shut, separating the father and daughter.

Despite the barrier, Eldunari spun around to face the doors and quietly swore an oath in a tongue never heard to anyone outside its origin. It sounded ragged and rough like the Bear's claws on stone, yet there was a delicate music and a strong ring of emotion in it, like Bear's shout of happiness or her cry of sorrow.

"I do so swear to return to my beloved home. It might take many years but I shall, at the end of my travels, find my way back home. I do so swear this oath in such a delicate tongue, for the sacred language of the Bears cannot be ignored. This oath is binding, and I shall heed to fulfill it. I do so swear, upon my life, this oath to my father: Aro, the great leader of the Volturi, to return home."

Eldunari quietly slipped out of the castle and into the night, slipping the hood on her robe onto her head as she disappeared into the darkness with impeccable speed.


	2. Family Reunion

**Irises  
**

**Chapter 1: Family Reunion**

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A black lioness ran through the forest, howling. She was hunting.

A snarl tore through her teeth and she tackled a buck. Her movement was graceful, yet menacing.

As her strange psychedelic purple eyes glowed and genetic structure changed, so did her appearance. She became a human.

Eldunari feasted well on the buck in her human form. She licked, or rather smacked, her lips when she was done.

She sprinted back to her cloak, abandoned by a tree. Pinning it around her bare figure, she returned to her home in the middle of the woods.

It was more of a bald acre of land rather than the "middle of the woods," but the latter sounded more appealing to the ears.

"Father," she whispered, "I miss you. I miss our family. I miss home."

Venom welled in her eyes, venom that would never spill.

"It's been four hundred years, and I miss being around the guard so much. The misguided ones are worse than ever…I failed on that mission, forgive me. Our secret is near exposed and the dawn of extinction nearly engulfs us. I am coming home," Eldunari whispered, she melodic voice quivered in a way that a vampire's should not.

Without another sound, she sprinted east, tying her cloak around her shoulder as she morphed into a cheetah.

As she approached shorelines, her irises glowed and she dived headfirst into the water. She morphed into an orca as she met contact with water.

* * *

Turning invisible (she had no clothing except her robes), one of the many powers she had acquired over her many years, Eldunari quickly ran through an Italian beach and located a department store.

Walking into the nearest teenage store, she searched around the store and found a nice, simple outfit and went to the dressing rooms. She pulled it on, knowingly ripped off the tags and walked out, deactivating the security system with her own technopathic abilities.

"Life has changed," Eldunari muttered to herself.

She walked in the direction her absorbed direction sense to her favorite place in the entire world, the Volturi castle.

She inhaled through her nose deeply and exhaled through mouth silently. Vampire scent was in the air. Eldunari turned toward it and saw a familiar face.

"Heidi, it's been far too long, my sister," she said suddenly.

A beautiful blonde froze for a split second that only vampire eyes could have noticed. She turned slowly and gasped.

"Ari!" she exclaimed, "Is that really you?"

"Of course," _Ari_ purred.

"Come, come! I've missed you. You **must** come along with my tour group. We're going to the Volturi castle," Heidi insisted.

Ari smiled widely.

"I wouldn't miss it," she replied.

The striking blonde vampire led the way through what Ari had finally recognized and modern Volterra. She stopped at a familiar ancient castle.

Home, sweet home.

"You are welcome to enter the castle," Heidi announced to her "tour group." "This castle was decreed open to the public during specified hours when with a guide. That would be me... Welcome to the castle of Volterra. I know you'll enjoy your visit. Nobody ever leaves after they've entered it," she finished omniously.

"Huh?" said a human.

Eldunari was silent for a moment before speaking.

"What I believe Heidi means is that: you will be so captivated by the beauty and wonderful aura that this castle beholds, that part of your spirit never truly leaves. I've been here many times and not once have I left the castle without a feeling of…amazement."

Heidi grinned at Ari.

"Exactly," she said. "Come, let's go in now."

"Welcome to Volterra Castle, my guests," a grand voice said with an unnoticeable false cheer to his tone.

"I trust you'll enjoy your day and remember it until the day you die. Follow Felix, in the blue, to the hallways. Thank Heidi, your street tour guide and you will be lead to the royal waiting room. You will wait for your castle guide Jane in the orange."

As the crowd left and Heidi walked foreword to have the great Volturi leader speak to her, Eldunari stood hidden in the shadows, now covered by her robes.

"Heidi, my dear," Aro began, "be wary about the elderly. Only Renata enjoys them."

Heidi dropped to one knee, despite her tight skirts.

"Of course, forgive me my lord," she replied, then departing.

Eldunari stepped forward, he hood shielding her eyes.

"Do not be harsh on my sister. She does the best she can, father," Ari called in a loud and powerful voice.

The three Volturi leaders' heads snapped up and froze in shock.

Eldunari walked forward slowly, basking in the no longer familiar aura of her home.

When she stood not five feet away from her fathers, she lifted up her head very slowly. Then she pulled off her hood.

"I am home."

"Eldunari!" Aro, Marcus, and Caius all exclaimed, embracing their daughter individually.

"My eyes have ached with unbearable pain to see you," Aro declared quietly as he embraced his adoptive daughter.

"The adrenaline rush of being in the center of a werewolf battle is nothing compared to the emotions I feel now," said Caius, revealing his rare, but lovable soft side.

"I have no words for how I missed you, Eldunari," Marcus whispered poetically.

"Go feed with your family and then come see me in my study," Aro commanded gently.

* * *

"Jane," Eldunari began as she slipped into the royal waiting room, "is there any left for your favorite sister?"

"Ari!" exclaimed the entire Volturi guard but Heidi, who had already seen Ari.

Eldunari inhaled deeply through her nose and looked at a young version of James Bond from Tomorrow Never Dies.

"Him," she said.

Every vampire with his or her eye on him retreated.

Eldunari sucked him dry. No point on being inconspicuous now that the small group of people had several bloodless corpses around them.

"I'd love to stay and chat with you, but I'm needed in Aro's study," Ari announced. "Please excuse me."

* * *

**Okay, I know that the Volturi leaders aren't supposed to be softies…at all. But I really, really like it! The vamps aren't totally dead inside, right?**

**I'm so sorry for not updating in almost half a year, but I sort of lost my inspiration and motive to write. It's back now, so expect some completed stories and such.**

**I just hope my readers haven't abandoned me for being non-exisistant.**


	3. Something To Ponder

**Irises**

**Chapter 2: Something to Ponder**

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"Nessie," an older, teenage brunette called, "can you come here?"

"Ma," a woman, slightly older than the teen, replied as she came into the room, "of course."

"Alice has been having strange visions and Carlisle has a story for us," said Isabella "Bella" Marie Swan Cullen.

Nessie, the half-vampire, noticed her entire family sitting around the living room and joined her father and mother on the three-seat couch.

"In my two hundred years with the Volturi, there was much talk of something they called 'misguided vampires,'" said Carlisle Cullen. "They are vampires with, specifically, spring green irises with an azure blue ring around it, and orange peel colored pupils in the center. They are said to feed off of immortal or mortal life essence...emotion."

"So like…human and vampire...emotion?" Emmett asked, bewildered.

"Yes," Carlisle answered. "They would be unrecognizable from us if not for their striking eyes…" he trailed off before continuing. "They start off as regular vampire, however what makes them rare is that they don't feel thirst for blood when they awaken. They feel a thirst and they soon find out in some way that they thirst for life essence. Although they can feed off of blood, the life essence is **_more_** appealing to them."

"Wait, wait," Rosalie interrupted, "How exactly do you feast on _emotion?"_

"If extracted correctly, life essence is an aura that can be seen by even the weak human eye. Although the misguided do not physically suck the emotion out of their prey, it can be seen entering their bodies and fortifying them, if not making them stronger," Carlisle answered.

Esme asked her husband a question after a moment of silence, "What happens to they prey after they've been fed on?"

"Instead of being void of emotion as you would think, they become extremely – and dangerously – prone to their emotions. Their emotions go wild and become uncontrollable. The emotions are said to intensify and grow, turning the victim into excellent prey for the next misguided who comes their way," Carlisle began, "Although the emotion is not noticeable during everyday life, it becomes very obvious when they it is aroused; and to have an uplift in emotions or to meet a hunting misguided vampire is something truly thrilling enough to create an emotional imbalance and turn someone into easy prey."

"But that practically makes them invincible," Alice countered. "Everything has a weakness."

Carlisle answered Alice's question briefly.

"The ultimate weakness is emotion. A misguided can be killed with fire as we can, but it is hard to capture one in the flames. Having never met one, I cannot tell you what can harm it."

"What of their powers?" Edward Cullen asked his adoptive father.

"That is the most interesting. They are as strong, agile, and fast as we are, perhaps even more so. They excel at whatever they do. They may or may not have a few other powers, but even if they don't…they will," Carlisle began, hinting that this explanation might be longer than the previous.

"Each misguided vampire is said to have power mimicry or absorption, and they can copy or absorb many powers at a time."

"A _few _other powers?" Emmett cried, still fully absorbing the first bit of information.

"Copy?" asked a befuddled Renesmee.

"Aren't there limits?" asked Jacob _Cullen _Black as he entered the Cullen house. He lifted his hand in greeting to the family, kissed Bella on the head, and Nessie briefly on the lips before sitting down beside her. He had heard the last sentence Carlisle spoke as he came in, which brought on his question.

"Some can retain those powers only if the source is present. Others can keep it for a few minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and so on," Carlisle answered yet another question. "Aro spoke of those who could retain powers permanently. However, even then, there are limits. Some are limited to a few powers before they "run out of space" if you will. Aro wanted to search for one who had limitless power – yes, there most likely _would_ be one, Emmett – and turn them into a weapon."

"Whoa, whoa," Jacob insisted after Nessie filled him in, "what do you mean by mimicry and absorption? Will a vamps' powers be like…taken away forever?"

"It depends," said Carlisle, "Again, it depends on the vampire. Some just copy it, leaving the power itself alone. Some _can _absorb a power and keep it permanently. There are most likely those who absorb it fully, but don't leave a vampire decapitated of it. Their power might still be there entirely or it may disappear and take some time for it to regenerate. The taken power, no matter how long or how short they have it, is over ten times more powerful than the original."

"Another factor is that-" Carlisle continued, "For example, Bella, Edward, Nessie, Alice, Jasper - your powers are all basically mental abilities. Misguided vampires, in theory, have more physical than mental abilities – and they were not acquired abilities. Which, yes Emmett, possibly includes throwing fireballs from their hands or freezing things that they touch when they want."

"Alice," Nessie finally asked, "what about your visions? What do you see?"

Alice closed her eyes and spoke, her voice not the jovial and playful tune everyone was attuned to. Instead it was sad and forlorn.

"I see war, fire, screaming, and fear. I see death and vampires, even humans, crying for their loved ones. I see our family being shattered, and the Volturi extremely angry with not only us and the covens that had helped with Nessie, but angry with someone I cannot see. The shadow person stands between destruction of our world and the prosperity of it."

"A being…vampire," Jasper corrected himself before continuing, "With that kind of strength and ability…it's hard to believe, even in the world we live in."

"We need to hunt them down," said Alice, surprising everyone with her malice.

Edward, who had been listening to his father's thoughts, spoke.

"At first notion that they truly exists, Alice," he said gently. "I understand that your visions make you act so protectively of us _and_ yourself, but until we know they exist…"

"We do nothing," Bella finished.

Esme put in her two cents, "We aren't being threatened yet, Alice. Listen to your siblings and let's just drop this as long as the peace remains."

"What I wanted to inform you is that, towards the end of my stay at the castle in Volterra…I was forbidden to venture into the east tower. Aro had told me that what was concealed behind the doors was so…magnificent…that I would be blinded by the beauty. Of course, I was intrigued.

"One day, I heard music and song coming from the tower. It was a sweet melody led by the most graceful singing voice I'd ever heard. I must admit that I was entranced. I couldn't pull away. I heard a lyre and a flute accompanying a voice so amazing that I fell in love with the music.

"I went back everyday and waited for music to start up…and it did. I had to be careful to be extremely silent and not to breathe, or the music would halt, and then pick up again.

"I went back another morning and I saw Aro by the tower's door looking rather lost. 'The magic and beauty is gone. Feel free to venture in,' he had told me. I did not believe him, and I sat by the door for five straight days, waiting for the music. On the fifth day of silence, I was so mad and driven with longing that I burst into the room and wasn't surprised to find it empty. I did, however, see the lyre and flute I had heard, piled delicately and gray tower walls with additions of green here and there.

"The lack of that wonderful music is another reason why I left the Volturi. I'd given up all hope."

Esme stated, "Music is a powerful thing."

Edward spoke Carlisle's trailed off thoughts.

"You believe that a misguided vampire was trapped in that tower."

It was not a question.

Carlisle nodded, leaving the Cullen family with something to ponder.

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**So, what do you think? Did I overdo it with the oh-so invincible misguided vampires? I hope not. Don't let it get to you though, I have a really great idea on how I want the story to progress, so if you've been reading it, please continue. The misguided have to seem so invincible for my story to go according to plan.  
**


	4. Opposite Views

**Irises**

**Chapter 3: Opposite Views**

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"Damn!" Aro shouted, punching a rather large hole into the wall of his study.

Eldunari had just informed him of the misguided vampires who had killed the entire Japanese coven of vampire who were very loyal to the Volturi. They were also very powerful.

One vampire of the coven, who was an adopted sister to the one and only (Chinese) Eldunari, had power negation, meaning she could cancel out the powers of another vampire. Her name was Takahashi Kaede.

She was sort of the yin to Eldunari's yang. She could render Eldunari's many abilities completely useless at will.

Aside from the issue of losing her best friend, Eldunari had also informed her father that some of the true wolves were still alive.

Ari had known that the Volturi had raided for them, hunted them down, and killed them. She was "brought up" to understand how terrible and dangerous they were, even for _her_. She simply hated to be the one to inform her own father that this _plague_ still existed.

Nonetheless, Ari grabbed her father's arm and wrenched it down with all her might.

"Father," she scolded, "calm yourself or I shall stick your head in a fire. You overreact…although I do understand how you feel. A great leader _**never**_ loses his temper."

Aro, whose arm was still being pulled down by his daughter, threw Eldunari into the wall. Not hard, but enough to surprise Ari.

"Leave me, daughter. I wish to be alone," he said coldly.

Ari's nostrils flared, and she glared at the man who was _never_ able to lay a harsh hand on her.

"Fine," she said darkly, "when I return, I hope your temper has calmed down. You disappointed me today. Perhaps I should go and join one of the covens in the United States. You seem to hate me as much as you do them."

Eldunari stalked out of her fathers study, slamming the door with so much vampire force that the room seemed to quake and the hinges of the door shuddered. Eldunari was surprised that it did not fall off.

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She went to her bedroom and began to modernize it as much as she could. She found things that were happy and green and plastered her room with it. The soundproof walls of the stone castle made for excellent privacy conditions when she wanted to play her music.

She saw her flute and lyre sitting the way she had left it four hundred years ago…on top of her organ in an X.

Ari lifted the flute to her mouth and proceeded to play a note, expecting a rich, vibrant, but rusty tone from the long years of silence. Instead she got a loud shriek that a flute could only make if it were horribly damaged.

Confusion and shock flittered across Eldunari's delicate features and she began to inspect her flute. Broken. Absolutely broken from the insides. Snapped wires, air leakage…it was broken beyond repair.

Ari quickly looked at her lyre and gasped. The strings were snapped and the edge was broken. Dread shadowed her beautiful features and she quickly lifted the lid of her organ. The rods and pipes had been demolished.

Eldunari placed her hand on the organ's cover, and used her power to sense who had last touched it…

Of course, only he would do such a thing in his rage.

"Father!" she shrieked angrily. "How _dare _you?"

She stormed back into her father's study, lyre in hand, and this time she, intentionally, literally ripped the door off of its hinges.

"How _dare_ you?" she screeched again. "How _dare_ you treat my possessions with such viciousness?"

Aro had stood up, his face extremely angry.

"You **know** these were the belongings that I took from my home! You _know_ that I took these because they belonged to the mother – _my_ mother – that _you_ murdered!" Eldunari continued to scream at her father.

"Silence!" Aro roared.

Eldunari breathed in and out deeply, glaring at her father as he began to speak.

"Do you think that I would let you fritter away with your toys after I, your **master,** sent you on a mission that you completely _failed?"_

"Failed," Ari whispered, "And what did you do while I spent four hundred years risking my life for **you**, attempting to complete an impossible task that even your wildest imaginations could never achieve?"

She kept going, her pain and anger goading her on.

"Do not even _attempt _to deny it," she spat. "Just because I had a different task did not mean that I turned away my Eye from my family. I Saw you. And you wasted precious time arguing with the covens who hate you over an immortal baby who was not even what you claimed her to be."

Aro's eyes narrowed.

Ari gasped in pain, crouched over, and pressed at her lungs before straightening back up. Her body shook.

"Oh yes, father," Eldunari breathed, "I Saw you humiliate yourself in front of all of those people. I Saw you make a mistake. I Watched you allow Caius to kill Irena to instigate a war that never happened. I Watched that newborn cut you off and tear down your offenses. I Saw you go weak and I Saw your failure. So don't you even _**attempt**_ to speak to _me _about failure!"

She gave one more pain-filled scream of frustration and stormed out, using her telekinesis to destroy the wall by the doorway of her father's, not, _master's_ study. Then she turned around, her sight blinded by red rage, and used the same telekinesis and sent her master flying back into his bookshelf.

"Master," she spat, turning to leave, "You'd be cowering like a _**rat**_ if I unleashed my full power. If my kind ever does consume this world, I can swear it will be for good cause. Not the trash that you gave me when I was younger."

Without another word she left the Volturi castle, taking great care to demolish anything in her path. She threw off the symbolic, black, Volturi robes, revealing the clothing she had taken from that shop earlier in the afternoon.

Eldunari used her telekinesis to grab the main entry doors, and flung them behind her listening to the crash with a smile on her face.

She stalked off into the night the same way she had done four hundred years ago. Her strange eyes glowed bright as she dissolved into the dark.

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**Hope you all liked that story. Please review after reading because it gets really depressing when I only have about 18 hits and not a single review for a story. I first one had a bunch of both so I have no clue why this story isn't doing as well. This one was way more thought out than my first story too.**

**That's too bad.. Please read and review. Thank you!**

**~Amanda  
**


	5. Otters, Falcons, and Lemurs

**Irises**

**Chapter 4: Otters, Falcons, and Lemurs**

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After running blindly into the wilderness, Eldunari found herself home again. Not Italy, but her first home. She was Xi'an, China, between the Yangtze and Huang rivers that she knew so well.

Her entire vampire family had been part of her biological family, and every one of the vampires had been…different like Eldunari, and they had all changed each other.

But they were dead now. Aro had discovered them in 1821BC, during the Qing Dynasty of China. They had been living through the Chinese Dynasties ever since they "died" in 592BC during the Sui Dynasty.

The large family did not agree with Aro's views on the world.

Aro found himself obsessed with being above man, but acknowledging the fact that there were too many of them to reign on top of the world, he reigned below it. On the other hand, Eldunari's family felt that the humans had a rightful claim to the world, where the vampires could live peacefully as long as they did not attract too much attention to themselves. After all, they had once been humans as well, and understood their need, their desire to grow and expand.

They fought Aro and attempted to destroy him and his brothers, believing someone so foul should be gone from the world. And so they were killed, leaving a young, misguided child to bear the worst. But instead Aro kept the young child, and easily brought her up to his beliefs. That young girl was Eldunari.

But now the young woman had come home. She had left her protection like a curious little puppy, and was now in the open for the coyotes to attack.

Eldunari stood upon the exact place that her family was executed. Her eyes were filled with sorrow, replacing the tears that would never fall. Her shoulders hunched over as the crying actions came pouring out.

"Please, mother," she begged silently in her mind. "Tell me what to do. I've been taking orders obediently for so long. I miss you and your guidance. Aro is probably going to send out someone to kill me but I don't know what the point of living is."

The wind blew theatrically and, just like in Disney's ridiculous cover on the legendary Hua Mulan, a red, Chinese lotus flew around Eldunari, and landed in her hand, which she outstretched. The lotus leaves shuddered and the entire flower flew to the north, despite the eastern blown wind.

North. North. North!

Eldunari grinned and nodded to herself. North had always meant onward in her culture.

So Eldunari knew exactly what she had to do. It was selfish of her, but it was the only way she could stay alive. She might even be happy despite her future. She might be rejected, considered an abomination, or seen and portrayed as a danger, but no matter.

Her mother wanted to her to live, and she would do whatever her mother wanted, because doing what her mother wanted didn't make Eldunari feel trapped. Unlike Aro's master-slave orders and words, doing what her mother wanted of her made Eldunari feel loyal and free. Doing what her mother wished took away the suffocation from her previous life.

Eldunari ran at vampiric speed whenever she could, moving as fast as she could inconspicuously through China's different cities. She approached the waters of an isolated beach and morphed into the cuddly but endangered sea otter – with their leisurely speed in the water – so that she could think while she traveled to America.

As a member of the Volturi, Eldunari spent half of her life in the castle playing music, and the other half outside of it in some form of an animal. She enjoyed that life so much, and knew that the only danger was if humans captured her because she was limited by the physical nature of the animalistic state she was in, not by her mental state, which was always the same as her human form and coupled with animal instincts.

---

After two weeks of swimming, stopping only to climb ashore a well-populated country as a vampire to feed, Eldunari reached America.

It was…rather dismal. She could see the heavy pollution with a weak human eye. A passing tourist mentioned that the region was the state of Massachusetts. Perfect. Eldunari had tracked misguided vampires and Children of the Moon all over the world, so she knew that her destination was almost straight across the US country.

Finding a state park, she took off like an airplane, with a running start, and leaped into the air, morphing into a peregrine falcon. Flying swifter and faster than this already speedy bird, Eldunari flew nonstop towards Washington and arrived just in time for sunrise.

Using her eyes to pinpoint her landing destination, she lowered her head and dove, speed unfailing, and landed on a firm tree branch as a ring-tailed lemur in the forests for Forks, Washington. She waited for someone to find her.

She didn't have to wait long. All it took was an hour for a vampire got thirsty. She wanted to smile as a tall, burly vampire bounded across a nearby river, where Eldunari saw a house. Easy as pie.

She saw the vampire inhale deeply, most likely smelling the weirdly rich blood of who-knows-what that ran through her lemur veins. The vampire spun and stared at Eldunari, most likely taken aback; but who wouldn't be? No ring-tailed lemur had tri-colored eyes like Eldunari did. It was quite clear that she was different.

She stared right back at the vampire, unblinkingly. He was just as different as she was. Eldunari had spent millenniums with red-eyed vampires, knowing who they were and why she was different. This vampire had eyes like liquid gold.

"Emmett?" another vampire called out, bounding into view. "What is it?"

This one had reddish-brown hair and was muscular, but not as big as the first. His eyes were the same liquid gold as the firsts, if not with more depth. Eldunari's power sensing abilities told her that this one was mind reader – telepathy.

He turned to stare at Eldunari as well and she waited for him to move. His hands lashed out and caught Eldunari around the middle; she put up no struggle as he took her into the house.

"Carlisle!" the telepathic called out, "you'd better see this."

A tall, blonde sped down the stairs of the house and looked at Eldunari, and paused for a second before speaking.

"Put it on the table, Edward," the man called Carlisle said.

Edward complied, and Carlisle bent down to look Eldunari in the eye. Several other vampires flew into the room before Carlisle spoke to Eldunari.

When he spoke, his voice was gentle, like he was trying not to frightening Eldunari. She wanted to laugh, but instead, stared right at this man as she did to the first.

"Would you be so kind as to show us who you really are?"

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**How did you like that one? Please review so I know what I could improve on and what part of my story is doing well.**


	6. Quick Thinking

**Irises**

**Chapter 5: Quick Thinking**

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_Eldunari POV:_

"Would you be so kind as to show us who you really are?" the tall blond asked me.

"_Would you be so kind as to give me a few feet of space?" _I mentally retorted, positive that the bronze haired would relay the message. _"I am not eight inches tall in my human form. I am, in fact, quite tall."_

Like I had predicted, the mind reader relayed my thoughts to the blond, surprising several of the other vampires.

The large group stepped back towards the stairs.

_"If you attempt to kill me," _I warned, _"you will regret it."_

I allowed my mind to empty before I began focusing on an image of myself as a vampire. I let the image consume my mind and it seemed to stretch beyond the size of my lemur body. It was as if an image, visible only to me, was growing inside me and taking the lemur's place, _**outside**_ my physical self, on this table. I could sense my eyes glowing, but I saw nothing but the image from my mind. I could _**feel**_ my genetic structure changing as my body grew.

I knew for a fact that the vampires could only see the three colors of my eyes contrasting wildly yet beautifully. The spring green would clash with the royal purple of my pupils and the azure blue would explode into the spring green. The colors would become bright, neon blurs as they grew and consumed my body.

Calculating the two and one-quarter second that past. I knew the colors were turning into a white light that would burst, revealing my true form, in one and one-quarter second. It took three and a half seconds. I came out of the light; sitting on the table they had put me on, 5'9 figure and all.

"It's nice to meet you all," I greeted calmly, though I could see the discomfort and surprise in every vampire's eyes. "My name is Eldun – no," I shook my head. "You may call me…" I thought for a quick moment. "Ariedia."

The tall blond nodded.

"Ariedia, my name is Carlisle Cullen. This is my family: Esme, Edward, Bella, Renesmee, Rosalie, Emmett, Jasper, and Alice."

My gaze started from the tall blond and moved to a motherly brunette, to the mind reader, to a mental shield, to a projector*, to a striking blonde, then to the burly male, to an empathic manipulator, and finally to a seer. I had come to a big coven.

Carlisle spoke to me again.

"Would you mind telling us what you are?" he asked gently.

I smirked inwardly, but I raised an eyebrow to the man. It was not meant to be a gesture of skepticism even though I was experiencing that emotion. I was not attempting to be rude to this man because I could immediately tell he was a good person.

"Your face tells me that you should be able to answer your own question," I said, my voice slathered with an equal amount of honey. If he was going to be overly civilized, it was only proper to reciprocate.

"They call you 'misguided,' do they not?" Carlisle inquired. "Distinguished from the blood-feeder by your eyes?"

My tone went cold at the anonymous mention of the Volturi.

"If by _they _you mean the Volturi, then yes. However, we refer to ourselves without a name. We are simply vampires that live off – well…you should be able to tell everyone what we feed off of." I said icily.

"Life essence," said the girl named Rosalie, in a tone just as disgusted as mine was icy. "We've already been informed."

"But you do not know everything," I smirked, finding humor in the female blonde's feeble attempt to come off as "smart" or "knowledgeable." I continued to speak.

"I question your sources because only my kind knows the entire story of our existence. I've told our secrets to three regular vampires. Only _three_ vampires who feed on blood know who we are…but they do not know the full extent of our…mmm…nature."

"Aro, Caius, and Marcus of the Volturi?" Carlisle guessed.

"Alright…four," I relented. "How do _you _know of us?"

"I stayed with the Volturi for several centuries."

My eyes narrowed in surprise.

"What did you say your name was?"

It was not that I had already forgotten his name; it was that I was in disbelief that _this_ man was _that_ man; the man from nearly five hundred years ago.

"Carlisle Cullen," he responded slowly.

"I guess not all vampires have exceptional memory skills." Rosalie sneered.

I ignored her. If permitted to stay in this region, we would not get along on this foot.

"So you must be that man who stood outside of my door all those years ago. My fathe – Aro, informed me of your presence. That was unnecessary however; I've sensed your presence outside that door for three decades. It is nice to meet the man who possessed such an interest in music." I trailed off in reminiscence.

"Your father?" the girl Alice noted sharply, while Emmett Cullen snickered, "You were eavesdropping and drooling over a _teenager?"_

"I considered him a father. He was not my sire. He found me when I was young, but I refused to join him. Many decades later I joined his coven, but that is not important," I responded to Alice's remark, my lip twitching at Emmett's.

Rosalie decided to open her mouth again.

"So you are here to spy on us," she growled. "The Volturi sent you here to see what we are doing."

I really wished that I could cut off her mouth. She had absolutely no right to speak. She knew nothing of me.

Edward chuckled, and I knew he was listening to my thoughts.

"What?" Rosalie hissed.

He shook his head.

"So what are you doing here?" Emmett Cullen asked me.

"I wasted nearly five hundred years doing his bidding like the obedient daughter I was raised as when I was human," I spat. "I learned recently that everything Aro told me was a lie. He never cared. My – uncle, I suppose you could say – Caius is eager to see blood spill, but he has a kind heart to some people…and away from the public eye. Marcus was…is…truly my favorite uncle," I found myself unsure of whether or not we could still consider each other family, but I kept speaking. "I knew his life story and he knew mine…we did not judge and we were very close. My mother and my aunts were very close to me as well. Now that I think of it, only _**him**_…only my _**father**__,"_ I shot out with my voice, "saw me as a tool; a young vampire but a powerful and excellent weapon."

I closed my eyes, wiping his face from my mind.

"I will never go back there. I will never stay with someone so unappreciative," I ranted. "I was just like those other **rats **in his guard. They've sold their souls to him so that they could keep their lives…and for what? Nothing…absolutely nothing. I don't understand their reasoning anymore. I would rather die than join him. I would kill myself _now_ for once being part of his guard, although though I no longer am. But the lotus pointed north. I must keep living."

I felt a stabbing pain in my chest and I immediately remembered I was not alone.

"Sorry," I said instinctively. "I have a tendency to rant out loud, and when I do there's usually no one around to care about what I say."

I saw Jasper mouthing, _"The lotus pointed north?" _to Edward, who shrugged in return.

I sighed.

"It is symbolic of my mother - her favorite flower. It's personal. I...something happened to me and I believe it was a sign from her. At her grave site, a lotus flower came to me and passed on towards the northern skies."

"Wouldn't that happen from a gust of north-blown wind?" Emmett asked.

"Yes," I agreed, "but the wind was blowing _east_ when this happened for me."

"Impossible." Emmett replied bluntly.

I was extremely surprised with his reasoning.

"You, a vampire, live in a world of drinking blood to survive. You've seen shape-shifters, most likely know that true wolves are real, yet you are questioning the fact that a lotus might blow north against an eastern wind?"

I shook my head, my lips threatening to smile as they quirked at the right corner.

"I think my situation is more believable than, for example, the entire vampire myth alone."

"Why are you here?" Jasper asked me, paraphrasing Emmett's question earlier.

I did not know the answer myself. At this point, my thinking and reasoning as an otter was worthless. However I was honest.

"I don't know anymore," I stated. "Coming here…all I was thinking was that my mother would want me to be safe. This was the first place that came to mind."

I started to hypothesize.

"Maybe it's because Aro despises your coven most," I let out a humorless laugh. "I can imagine how furious he would be if he found out I went to the Olympic Coven specifically for protection, simply to spite him."

I sighed as soon as I realized my mistake.

"I must go," I decided. "I've forgotten that if I stay with your…family long enough for Felix to track me, then you will all be in danger. Besides, you cannot protect me."

I slid off the table to politely shake Carlisle Cullen's hand.

"It was nice to finally meet you in person," I said sincerely.

"Those of you with extra abilities, you'll find them missing," I explained, for Edward had an extremely perplexed expression on his face. No doubt he was uncomfortable with no longer being able to hear the thoughts around him.

"I apologize for any inconveniences your decapitation may cause you, but luckily _**for**_ you, my power absorption only decapitates the power source for an hour. If you had come across my brother, you would never have powers again."

I led myself to the main door and opened it.

"I will reside in the forests across the river for the hour it takes you to regenerate your abilities. If your powers do not return then I will return them to you. Thank you for not attempting to kill me. If your seer Sees the Volturi, you can find me somewhere in Taiwan during the night."

I heard Rosalie scoff.

"You're a child, what can you do against the Volturi?"

I spun around. Enough with the condescending tone! Does no one believe in my strength?

"I've already said this to _him_ and he knows it well. Just a **quarter **of my powers would have him cowering in fear. He knows not to anger me. It's very nasty business." I paused for a moment. "Goodbye."

I wasn't planning on morphing, but I suddenly remembered my mother's white tiger that she had trained as a pup. I pulled the image of the eight-year-old tigress and dropped on all fours as I morphed. My delicate pads lightly slapped the floor as I bounded into the river.

* * *

* - my spur-of-the-moment name for Renesmee's extra ability

**I don't know about my readers, but I personally like this chapter. My original intents were to have a Rosalie/Arcelia (Eldunari) verbal war but I like Rosalie too much to make her seem so mean.**


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